by David Peters
You’ve tried every possible photographic trick in the book to capture the perfect picture the light, the focus and even the time of the day. But somehow, with your final digital photograph right before your eyes, you aren’t completely satisfied with the final product. Maybe it’s a picture of the ice-capped peaks, but it simply isn’t looking as cold as you want it to or perhaps your photograph is simply looking too cluttered for your liking Fortunately for you, there have been numerous digital photographers who’ve been down that road and have known just how you feel. And as a result, the art called digital photography editing was created. Today, there is barely a digital photograph you will find around you which hasn’t been digitally retouched or even re-mastered. And here the best part, with a few quick steps, it is possible for you to adopt this process for yourself, to create immaculate pictures of your very own.
With the growing popularity of digital photography, editing software has not lagged behind. In fact, software programs to suit every level of skill and expertise have been developed, some of which accommodate the needs of an accomplished professional who is looking to scale new frontiers while others cater to the amateur who’s just looking for a way to enhance his recreational photographs. So once you’ve chosen your software in view of the kind of task you want it to perform for you, you need to first upload your image on the workspace you’ve created. But before you proceed to make any changes to your original image, ensure that you have a back up copy to revert to in case you’re not satisfied with the final product, or simply want to start from scratch, all over again.
If your photograph is centered on people, chances are that you will find many of the faces sporting red-eyes. This can be easily edited out of your picture with the most basic of editing tools, which nearly every version of editing software is equipped with. For all those pictures that have been taken at the wrong angle, you can rotate the entire image or even a part of it for incredible results. Also, as many seasoned professionals will tell you, if your photograph has too many elements crowded into it, which are actually detracting from the subject of your image, then it is advisable you trim away the edges of your photograph or ‘crop’ it. This tool is especially helpful if your subject is right in the middle of the photograph, and makes the entire look a lot more professional.
Experimenting with color is one of the most flexible tools editing software contains. If you aren’t too happy with the color of a particular part of your image, you can simply swap it for another. Or even better, tint the entire image with a particular color to change the very feel of the photograph. You can revive the antiquated look with a sepia tone, or even strip your image off all color! You can even add a ‘feel’ to your picture by accentuating certain elements with a tinge of heat or a swath of blue to recreate a bitter chill.
You can also add emphasis to the subject of your photograph by blurring out the images behind it. For this, you first need to determine the most important part of your image, or the focal point, as it is more popularly known, and then play down on the background. You can even sharpen your images, to achieve a clearer overall impression. However, it is not possible for any editing software, no matter how advanced to sharpen an out-of-focus image. The best way you can use this tool is to ‘selectively sharpen’ where you choose the specific parts you want to highlight and sharpen just those.
You can also slice up your image in parts and then use them, as they are, or merge them into an interesting collage, without anyone realizing the difference. Many of the later versions of software function on a principle called ‘layering’. This is one of the most remarkable of all features where your image is divided into layers, to allow you to work on one specific part of the image while leaving the others intact. You can even use this feature to merge a combination of effects and depending upon your choice of effects, you can achieve a different, yet beautiful, effect every time you work on the very same picture.
While buying your editing software, you first need to take into account the extent to which you’re going to use it. If it’s just a leisurely pursuit you want to indulge in, it is a lot more advisable that you stick to the basic versions that you can either download for free online or purchase at pretty reasonable rates. Professional versions like Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter will cost you a lot more, for features that you may never use. Many basic versions like Google Picasa or paint.net offer you all the basic options like image cropping, rotation and red-eye reduction. For the more determined enthusiast, to find the perfect software that’s compatible with your set of requirements, it is advisable that you do your homework on the internet before you make your choice. Now that you know what it takes to edit your photographs to create one-of-a-kind effects, don’t hold back the next time you have a picture to use. Make the most of your imagination and have the software translate your thoughts into deeds. The combination, once achieved, will be nothing short of magic!
